Hey guys, After navigating around a bit I'm starting to wonder how I'll be able to handle territory control across multiple planets and keep track of where things are. I feel like some sort of colorized territory border like the nation borders in Civilization would be helpful to keep track of where i am on the planet and where enemies are. Then perhaps on the planets themselves show some sort of icon indicating what percentage of it you've conquered. I feel like if the unit control was centered around building and maintaining a larger 'territory', it'd make it easier to handle the strategy that multiple planets will bring with it. Right now it feels like i'm playing TA on a sphere, which is cool...but seems like it will be unwieldy unless some sort of simplification to the unit controls happens, especially for multiple planets. Maybe some sort of automation for border protection for example ? Does this make sense ? Anyone agree ?
I agree that playing on a sphere takes some getting used to, and the wonky alpha camera controls don't help. But play a few games and it gets easier. As for your concerns about multiple planets, we'll just have to wait and see if it's too hard to manage or not I guess. I don't think that adding civilization like territories would be something good for the game though. There's no way to know right now, but I think everyone agrees that there needs to be "something" to help you manage multiple planets.
Hm, could you explain a little bit what would be the main detractor to a territory border system? Some advantages would be stuff like being: - Easily gauge the ownership % of a planet - Set patrol routes for units around a border to protect bases - Find your own base quickly from the zoomed-out view - Target enemy locations more easily Downsides would be...?
Perhaps when in strategic zoom, ability to toggle on your LOS in the colour of your team. This would easily show where your influence is from a quick "glance and spin" of the planet. Perhaps battle lines would be shown in between where the enemies influence intersects yours where ever you can see units of theirs that give LOS. So if you cant see/detect the unit emitting enemy line of sight, then you dont get to see that your influence is possibly compromised. It would be the denser battle lines of opposing forces that provides a conflict zone. I am sure recon/counter-intel is going to become a bigger deal as orbital units come into play. A form of "Claimed planet" would be nice as well, but it sort of hurts the illusion of safety that is valuable to an enemy that may have snuck a base somewhere the player has neglected to secure. What if there was a higher tier orbital unit/group of satellites that shows the entire planet, once it is proven that a planet is completely rid of the enemy it can be re-named by the owner and shown on the galactic map as under control. It would require taking out the satellite system in full or in part to sneak in undetected.
Essentially this is the problem right here. If you have access to border information, and a % owned stat then you know more than you should about an enemy's disposition. secret bases and the element of surprise become less likely. Radar, scouts, and orbital intel become less valuable. This works well as a concept when you have countries fighting since countries have borders and different effects that work within those borders, but what, besides a viual effect, does the border of your PA base have? Nothing. I feel it would just add a pointless extra layer of information that would detract from the game, but that's just my opinion.
Ahh i see what you mean. It's a good point too. I suppose what i was thinking was that there could be a whole different concept to how you would manage territory in a 'real time' strategy game. I hate to make the comparison but there could be some level of (but not exact copy) automation that could work like the game 'oil rush'. I want the unit control of TA, but also want some conveniences that you see in a Galcon/Oil Rush type game. My thought was that some interesting territory control mechanics would go along with the territories themselves. Rather than focusing on each unit/building, you'd focus on growing your territory and reducing theirs. I think the surprise factor could still be handled by having fog of war so that you would say 'known percentage' and 'explored percentage' etc. When you build a unit it could be set to automatically patrol your border, or you could tell a unit to go reinforce another (separate) territory while avoiding known enemy territories (and territories that get discovered). Stuff like that. I think it'd change the way the game works quite a bit, but would be a nice way to differentiate from what is out today in the RTS space. I'm a big starcraft player, and this game is extremely different (which i view as a good thing). But I'm having a hard time figuring out how i will handle my armies without losing units constantly on the sphere or accidentally sending them across an enemy base which i think will be exacerbated by having multiple planets. Maybe there are alternatives like a 'recall' button that orders all the units to my commander or something.
The answer to your question is yes, you will be losing units nearly all the time. Things happen, isolated units get overrun by larger forces, losing units is part of the gameplay. Equally, sometimes you will lose units and you won't notice. One of the major skills of a good TA player is the ability to notice when things are happening, and the ability to split your attention drastically. As long as the units you lose serve a purpose, you're doing well. Sometimes that purpose is simply to die, and thus warn you when they do. Basically, get used to losing units, you're going to lose a lot, even when you win. In TA, it's very possible for the winner to actually lose more units than the loser, since they produce far more and are pushing into enemy defenses which favor the loser.
